As I mentioned some time ago, although still a share partner, Ciro Salvo is not longer working in the Salvo brothers pizzeria near Naples. Instead, for some time he has been the head Pizzaiolo in a nice Bar/Pizzeria in the town of Torre Annunziata, famous for Pasta production (e.g. Setaro) and where the Condurro family is said to have learnt their dough making tradition.

The place is called Massť and Ciro has recently got the owners to swap a prefab oven with a Forno Napoletano. I have personally received compliments from his fornaio on how good the new oven perform compared to the many he has used in his 30+ career and this is what makes it worth for me to get behind the Forno Napoletano project in the first place as my mission has always been having the best possible neapolitan oven to produce what I consider the best version of Pizza Napoletana.

Below are some pictures, all courtesy of Ciro Salvo himself:

(The second pizza is a Ciro Salvo's first combo, now already imitated and copied around, Zucchini's flowers and Conciato Romano cheese, if ever there should have been a copyright for a pizza, this should have been one)

What a stunning oven - the dining room is a perfect compliment as well. Such gentle and exquisite leoparding on those pies, which is hard to accomplish. You must be very proud of your ovens. I wonder what the temp/time is of the bake?

Do you mind if I copy the Conciato/Fiori di zucca combo in my backyard?

Credit due to Ciro, who I consider the best by pizzamaker in the world by miles, as his dough is as perfect as it gets, but the satisfaction is to hear that this oven allow the type of cooking that he is looking for ..

that is a beautiful oven. your portable ovens look so solidly built,they look all business. the restaurant and the outdoor dinning area is beautiful. that shot on the bay is picture perfect. is it unusual to place the basil post bake?

that is a beautiful oven. your portable ovens look so solidly built,they look all business. the restaurant and the outdoor dinning area is beautiful. that shot on the bay is picture perfect. is it unusual to place the basil post bake?

Thanks, when I first talked to the artisan master builder about doing a portable version for my consultancy foreign clients he was sceptic but I convinced him it was possible and he insisted not to compromise on the shape that affect performance.

If you see, some of the basil underneath was put before cooking but nowadays many add some further leaves after cooking

Wonderful looking spot and oven !! What a view! So Glad you have opted for a portable version of this Beautiful Oven Marco. I also like to see the traditional wooden dough boxes. Very nice comments from a true Master. How long has Ciro been doing the Zucchinni Flower pizza? A lady friend from Naples (not a pizza maker of any sort ) gave me this recipe for the squash flower pizza as well (no cheese) this summer here in New Jersey. She did not speak much english, I wonder if she knew of his creation? Although I bake pizza in a small pre cast mobile oven it was very interesteing and came out pretty good. My goal is to call you someday for a quote on a Forno Napoletano Thanks for posting! John

There are several thousands of wood fired pizzeria in Naples and adjurning towns and there are two/three major suppliers of wood. It is a serious industry and wood has always more or less been cut to specific size for the job. recently, one of the supplier, came up with something called on the lines of "wood box", where the wood is perfectly squared and cut evenly to help storage in the box. At Massť they are using these but I have not seen it in the city centre even from clients of the same supplier.

John:Ciro has been doing a version with Zucchini flowers for a while, but the Conciato combination is pretty recent. Zucchini flowers have had a place in pizzeria for ever, mostly preparaed as a snack, filled with ricotta, dipped in a batter and deef fried. Recently they have appeared as pizza topping more often, but when I did the consultancy job in 2008 in Argentina and did a version with Zuc Flowers, ricotta and a special herb (all from specific seeds varierty shipped months earlier), I had never seen Zucchini flower as pizza topping.

I'll be hoping for that call, even if many others on this forum have said suimilar things only for later doing other things :-(

Fresh yeast, a mix of flours including an organic one and a very long slow leaving process. At times he uses a natural leaven.

I am busy right know and need to find a less provocative way to address the issue, but my next post on pizzamaking will be exactly about the use of either yeast and why most people should stick with one of them..

I am busy right know and need to find a less provocative way to address the issue, but my next post on pizzamaking will be exactly about the use of either yeast and why most people should stick with one of them..

I look forward to that post.

I also find it interesting that Ciro is using a blend of flours. I thought that pretty much everyone in Naples used commercial (Caputo mostly) flour made specifically for Neapolitan handling and temps. Blending seems to be something that could be the next "big thing" in that regard. Almost the way Bonci is mixing things in Rome for pizza in teglia.

wen ni Naples i asked about flour's.... and some said they like one brand, the other said they like the other brand... and some said they like a blend of flour's for longer fermentation, and as Marco said, a blend with organic called Petra.

Marco, is Ciro open about his dough formula and process, and, if he is, could you share any of the details?

Not very much, but Ciro is a master and work in an environment where everyday will be a different dough with the same results. No one get close to him, not even is brothers. He has both the manual mastery and theoretical knowledge that is unmatched.